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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — a stick
  5. rest — what's left
  6. chest — of your body
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. file — a line of people
  9. field — farmland
  10. chest — of your body
  11. roll — a cake
  12. file — a tool
  13. chest — a box
  14. field — a subject
  15. fork — in a road
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. capital — money
  18. field — for sport
  19. capital — a city
  20. rest — what's left
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. file — a document
  23. staff — employees
  24. rest — a break

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com